Nightmare's Return
by Alucard1563
Summary: The follow-up to Welcome to Nightmare, it takes place after the events of the first book. After Caligo was destroyed in the Battle for Halloween Town a greater much darker presence has arrived and it's up to Allison and her allies in Halloween Town to stop this new evil and save all of their worlds.


The passage of time fades all things, even legends. Even Allison's legend in Halloween Town. The years faded and fewer and fewer people remembered her being there. Time passed on there as in the human world. It was no exception. Her memory of the events that had taken place had gotten dim over time and now she wasn't even sure if it had all been real. That it hadn't been just some fantasy that she had created to cope with Alex's death. At least that's what her psychiatrist had said. She had tried to believe it; if she didn't play their song and dance then they'd stick her in some asylum for the rest of her days. Yet that boy…

College was a killer. Allison had realized this all too well. Her classes had her stretched so thin that she could barely stand it. She was fraying at her edges and was horribly desperate for a break, so the weekend was a relief. It was Friday afternoon and the light breeze of an early autumn was in the air as she walked to her car. She lived off campus to save on tuition costs and she would be more than happy to see her house.

As she pulled up into the driveway she saw the red Mustang that sat under the tree in the front yard. She left her books in the car and quickly hopped out hurrying towards the door. She yanked it open and stormed inside. Sitting at the kitchen counter was a face she knew all too well.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked.

The young man turned around and shot her a smile. "What, I can't surprise you every now and then?" he asked.

Allison returned the smile before running over to him and throwing her arms around him. He pulled her in close and they embraced for a few seconds.

"I thought you had an away game out of state this weekend?" she asked him surprised.

He shrugged. "Eh, I did but it got canceled thanks to that tropical storm that's brewing out in the Gulf."

Allison smiled and tossed her backpack down on the couch. "Axton you really shouldn't just show up out of nowhere like this, the house is a mess."

Axton shrugged. "Babe it stopped bothering me a long time ago, you're my girlfriend I could care less what your house looks like." he asked.

Allison turned around and laughed. "You know I never get tired of you saying that." She said walking over to him and gently placing her hand on his chest and kissing his lips.

When she pulled back Axton chuckled back. "Well I never get tired of saying it." He said. "Well since I'm here is there anything you want to do?"

Allison gave him a wolfish smile. "I can think of a few good things. I'll meet you in my room in a minute." She said running her finger under his chin.

She didn't have to tell him twice. Axton made a beeline for the bedroom in a split second.

Allison had turned around and was just about to unbutton her shirt when she heard a commotion from the bedroom.

"Hello there!" a cheerful voice said a split second before Axton's scream split the quiet and a metallic clank filled the room, followed by a halfhearted "Ouch."

Allison quickly darted towards the bedroom.

"Was that truly necessary sir?" the voice asked as Allison walked in. She turned into the bedroom to see Axton holding the baseball bat that she kept in the corner of her bedroom in his hands ready to swing again. He was one of the star players on the school's baseball team, so he had one heck of a swing. Standing a few feet away from him was the shadow of a tall figure. Axton was staring down at the floor were a single skull rolled on the floor.

"I really don't understand why you had to hit me, I mean you no harm I promise." The skull said.

"Oh my god." Allison murmured as she rushed over to the skull.

"Allison wait," Axton called, "It's still alive."

Allison rolled her eyes and grabbed the skull off the floor. "Well of course he's still alive genius." She said, "He's a skeleton afterall. It will take a little more than losing his head to kill a skeleton."

Axton lowered the bat slightly and looked at her puzzled. "What exactly is going on here?" he asked.

Allison sighed and dusted off the skull. "I'm so sorry about that, he didn't know I'm sorry." She said.

The skull smiled. "Oh it's okay, it only hurt a little bit." He said.

Axton shook his head and walked over as Allison set the skull back onto its body. "Allison, would you please be so kind as to tell me what the hell is going on?!"

Allison sighed. "I've told you about this before. Axton this is Jack, Jack meet my boyfriend Axton."

Jack Skellington offered his hand out to Axton. "I tried to introduce myself before, but I believe I scared you a little. Don't take it personally; it's kind of my job."

Axton slowly offered his hand and shook the boneman's hand. "Oh my god, you didn't imagine it. He's real." Axton said softly to himself.

Allison nodded. "I told you, I'm not crazy… well not "crazy" crazy anyway." She said. Then she turned to Jack. "How can you be here, I thought that you couldn't pass into the human world unless it's Halloween?"

Jack nodded. "While that's true for most of us, some of our kind can travel back and forth without any trouble, I'm not one of them however, and you must believe me when I say that I wouldn't disturb your peace unless I had a completely good reason to do so." He said.

Allison nodded. "I know that Jack, so how did you manage to get here?" she asked.

Jack reached into his pocket and produced a golden medallion. "This is an heirloom of my family that allows us to pass into the human realm for short periods of time. It's sort of how we managed to establish such a fear in you humans." He said looking off into the distance with a face of nostalgia, then shook his head. "But that's neither here nor there. We have a serious problem going on right now."

Allison felt something in her stomach turn. "What's going on?" she asked.

Jack sighed. "It seems Zel's theory was correct. When Caligo was killed something got woken up, something _big_. We're still not sure what exactly, but we can feel it's power stretching over the town like a plague and it's soldiers stalk our forests. I went to consult the Oracle and well…" he trailed off.

"Jack," Allison said, "Just spit it out, how does this involve me?"

Jack sighed. "The Oracle told me that it would take our children from us, all of them. And that the only thing that could stop it would be one born of two souls."

The memories flooded back to Allison. The tower, the ritual, her soul being sucked out of her, and the immense power that had flowed out of her when it had happened.

"You mean me?" she asked her shoulders sagging.

Jack nodded. "I'm afraid so. If you're up for it we need to move immediately, we can't afford to lose any time."

Allison nodded and looked back at Axton, then over at her bedside table. Throughout the years she had kept that picture, the one of her and Alex. If something bad was going to happen she couldn't just let her friends sit by and get hurt. She walked over to the table and pulled open the drawer and pulled out the dogtags and slid them over her head.

"Okay Jack, let's go." She said solemnly.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute." Axton said hurrying over to her. "What the heck is going on here?"

Allison shook her head and kissed him. "Listen, there are things going on here that I can't explain. I need you to just stay here."

Axton shook his head and stepped into her way. "Listen, he just said something dangerous was about to happen, I can't just let you walk into that."

Allison closed her eyes and tried to move past him. "Axton, please I have to go there is no way around it. My friends are in danger and I'm the only one who can save them."

"Then I'm coming with you." Axton said.

"No, you can't I…" she tried to say before she got cut off.

"That's not a question; if you go with this… thing then I'm going with you one way or the other. You're not going to keep me away."

Allison sighed. "Axton, you'll just be a burden I…" The memories came back to her again.

" _Twice now we've used our resources to save your life and accommodate you in the nicest of ways that we can. You have no right whatsoever to dare demand something from any of us. You are a child here, we have to constantly to keep our eye on you for fear that you'll go off and get yourself killed with your inability to do anything to protect yourself or those around you!"_

"God damn it Axton, if something happens to you I'll never be able to forgive myself." She pleaded.

"And if something happens to you then I won't be able to go on knowing that I let you walk into this alone." He said sternly.

Allison clenched her fists and shuddered. It was too much, too close to how she had felt. "Okay, fine." She mumbled.

Axton nodded. "Then it's settled, I'm coming with you." He said hoisting the metal bat on his shoulder and rubbing his brown hair.

"Allison, we need to be gone as soon as we can." Jack said from behind them.

Allison swallowed her pride and turned. "Okay, let's get going then." She said.

Jack nodded and hurriedly walked out of the room. Allison and Axton followed close behind him.

"Where exactly are we going?" Axton asked.

Jack looked over his shoulder. "Well for starters, your backyard. I have a man who's been watching the place to make sure we weren't interrupted, we don't know how far this being's presence extends."

"Man who's been watching?" Allison asked.

Jack opened the back door and Allison could looked outside and saw a young man about the same age that Alex had been the last time she had seen him. He was leaning up against a tree with his dark black shaggy hair falling into his face. When the door opened her looked up and she could see his chocolate brown eyes. She couldn't place it, but something was horribly familiar about him.

"Well it's about time; I thought you guys would be in there all night. I told you I should have gone in on my own Jack." He said. Then he turned to Allison and smiled. "It's been a long time Ms. Allison."

Allison looked at him puzzled. "We've met before?" she asked.

The young man nodded and took a step forward. "Sorry, I guess you probably don't recognize me like this."

Then in the blink of an eye the young man morphed into a large brown wolf that sauntered over to her and sat down in front of her. He looked up at her and started wagging his tail.

Allison suddenly felt a surge of happiness come over her. "Oh my god, Kiba is that you?!" she asked.

Kiba barked happily and licked her hand.

"You know him?" Axton asked.

Allison nodded. "Yeah, I saved him when he was a pup." She said ruffling his ears.

Axton shot her a confused look. "How old are you again?" he asked.

Allison laughed. "Time in Halloween Town passes a lot faster than time here in the human world. So it doesn't surprise me that he's aged so fast."

Kiba trotted back over to Jack and quickly transformed back into his human form. "I'm happy to see you too in case you couldn't tell." He said happily.

Allison looked back over at Jack. "So what else has changed since I've been gone?" she asked.

Jack rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh nothing much." He said, "People have grown up, the town is under new management, Zel has a child…"

"_He what_!" Allison yelled, "With who?!"

. . .

Bunni looked through the trees carefully. At the slightest movement she had to be ready to move, there could be no hesitation in her movements. There was a shuffle off to her right and she darted towards it. She stopped a few paces away and the large shadow took a few tentative steps back. Then it growled and moved forward.

"Get away from my town you mangy mutt!" she snarled.

The wolf took a step forward with its teeth barred and its claws out.

"Fine then, have it your way." She said.

She darted off to the left and slammed her leg into the wolf making it snarl as it crashed into a nearby tree. She was on top of it in a split second and her hands around its neck. She quickly twisted it and with a snap the wolf stopped fighting. She stood up and wiped the dirt off her shirt.

"I warned you didn't I?" she said.

These wolves had been circling Halloween Town for weeks now and the Council was sure that they were related to the massive power lingering just out of sight. Bunni had pulled sentry duty, but her time was now up so she turned and started home.

It didn't take her long to traverse the forest and through the gate. The armor suits guarding it made no attempt to stop her, they knew everyone who went out on watch. She quickly picked her way through the town. The house was nothing spectacular, but it was enough. She opened the door and was greeted by a shrill cry of joy.

"Mommy's home!"

She was tackled by a small girl with short blond hair and tiny snow white bunny ears slipping out of it.

"Hi sweetheart." Bunni said hugging the little girl.

"Arya, leave mommy alone, she's had a long day." A voice said from the side room. Arya let go of Bunni and hurried into the other room on her small legs.

Bunni smiled and stopped in the doorway looking in. Zel sat at his desk pouring over the books that he'd gotten from Doctor Finkelstein the other day.

"Are you still looking over those dusty old books?" she asked.

Zel nodded. "Yep, there's actually some pretty interesting things in here. Plus the doctor needs all the help he can get, we need to find a way to keep those wolves away."

Bunni shook her head and walked over to him draping her arms around his shoulders. "Maybe you should take some time away from that and pay attention to me?" she asked.

Zel chuckled and turned around in his chair and pulled her on top of his lap. "You really want that huh?" he asked.

They were about to kiss when Arya came hurrying into the room. "Daddy, there's a doggy in the yard." She said.

Zel and Bunni quickly stood up. "A dog, that can't be Kiba." Bunni said.

"Yeah, he's still not back from his mission with Jack." Zel said.

Just then all hell broke loose. Screams erupted throughout the city and then window in the kitchen exploded open and a large wolf crashed through and grabbed Arya's shirt in its jaws yanking her off her feet. Zel rushed forward and slammed a fist in between its eyes. It snarled and dropped Arya as it stepped back on its paws. Zel quickly picked up Arya with one arm and tossed her over to Bunni.

"Get her out of here now!" he yelled.

Just then the wolf charged again and tackled Zel to the ground. Bunni quickly rushed out the door with Arya in hand and saw the chaos. Wolves ran back on forth across the town, some carrying children and others attacking the townsfolk. Two large wolves jumped at her and she barely managed to jump out of the way. Then she got hit from behind and Arya dropped out of her arms while a large wolf climbed on top of her. She tossed it off tried to move back to grab Arya, but one of the wolves beat her to it and it grabbed her the same way the first one had. She erupted in tears and started crying. Bunni tried to dart forward, but before she had a chance another group of wolves attacked her. Zel came barreling out of the house a few moments later covered in blood with his sword in one hand. He tried to follow after the wolf, but a pure black wolf leaped at him through the air and gripped around his sword arm. Before he could fight back he got attacked by two more. Bunni looked over at Arya's crying face and tried to follow her, but a large paw slammed onto the back of her head and it crushed her into the ground. Then everything went black.


End file.
